Protect Alameda County’s Water from Fracking, 1/11

January 11 @ 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

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Alameda County is one of a handful of counties in California to have banned fracking–a great accomplishment! Yet, despite this, and the small footprint of the oil industry in Alameda County, an oil company wants the US EPA to grant an exemption to allow it to inject oilfield wastewater into an aquifer near Livermore, the Greenville Sands. How is this possible? The oil company uses a technique related to fracking known as “water flooding,” for which it fought for (and won) an exception to the Alameda County fracking ban.

The state Water Resources board must issue a recommendation to US EPA, who will then decide on whether or not to grant the exemption to the Safe Drinking Water Act to allow wastewater injection. Unfortunately, the Water Board has issued a preliminary approval, but there are still opportunities to stop them, such as by speaking out at this hearing.

There are many ways to get involved to protect our water supplies in Alameda County, including potentially amending the fracking ban to prohibit water flooding, writing letters to the editor, and getting legislators to bring pressure to bear on the water board. Written comments may be submitted to the state Department of Conservation through email to: comments@conservation.ca.gov, or through postal mail to the following address: